Intuitive Tarot Card Reading

To get the best out of your tarot card readings, you have to relate to your deck.  If it grabs your attention, if you love the images, then it's the one for you.  If not, go get yourself a new deck. There are so many out there, you'll be spoilt for choice.

The more the cards in your deck appeal to you, the quicker and easier it will be for you to remember their associations and meanings.

Here's a quick way to get to know your cards and start working with them intuitively:

First, separate the Major Arcana cards from the Minors. Shuffle each set and lay out six of each in two rows. You can use as many cards as you wish, but don't overwhelm yourself at first.

In your tarot journal, make a list of the cards which you've laid out for future reference. By each card, list just one word which describes that card best for you. DON'T check in a book, go with your instincts.....

Then look at each card, taking your time. Study each detail carefully, working your way through all the cards laid out before you. What are your first impressions? Are there any cards that jump out at you? Any that you particularly like? Or dislike? Can you say why? Write these notes down ......

Look at the overall cards and see if you can identify some kind of narrative. Think of how a child looks at a picture book - they see the image, then make a story up. It doesn't matter that they can't read, they don't need words, just the pictures in front of them. It's the same with your tarot cards. Find the story in what you see ....

See if any of your current situations appear in the cards. Do any the cards show how things could be made better or worse?

Check back on the individual words which you wrote down to describe each of the cards. Is there a pattern to these? Can you put the words together and form a cohesive sentence or story?

Always remember that if a card feels like it has a different meaning to those which you have read in a book, just go with that meaning! Core meanings to cards are great and is how we all learn at the start but tarot reading is meant to be intuitive. Let the cards speak to you and your readings will improve no end - and you'll get so much more from your experience of working with the tarot.

Youcan expand on this further by doing what I learnt, called the Story Telling Exercise. It's based on the above but instead of separating the cards into Majors and Minors, you simply shuffle the complete 78 card deck and lay out six cards face up.

Scan the cards as a whole and get a general impression on what's in front of you. Then it's a case of using your imagination, forget everything you've read in the tarot instruction books, grab a pen and your tarot journal and get started! Begin weaving your story from the first card, moving along to each consecutive card. Be as outlandish or fantastical as you wish, using the images you see.  Write it all down ... you may find that sometime in the future, the events which you "made up" are played out in the real world!

As I said before, never be afraid to give the cards your own meanings, the ones you see instinctively as soon as you lay eyes on the image. THIS is the way tarot is meant to be used and the more you can work with your cards like this, the deeper your connection and understanding of the tarot will be